P.K. Subban might not have been the most popular guy in the locker room during his time with the Canadiens, but Alex Galchenyuk remains good friends with the Nashville Predators defenceman.

“We talk here and there,” Galchenyuk said after practice Friday in Brossard as the Canadiens prepared to face the Predators Saturday night at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CITY, SN360, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690). “I texted him after the game (Thursday).”

Subban scored two goals in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators Thursday night in Ottawa, boosting his team-leading totals to 15-28-43. Subban leads all NHL defencemen in goals — matching his career high — and is plus-11 while averaging 24:01 of ice time. He has 11-14-25 totals in the last 24 games.

Galchenyuk said he’s happy to see Subban doing well in Nashville.

“Of course, trades are such a big part of the hockey business,” Galchenyuk said. “But from a personal standpoint, friends and relationships, once you build them you keep them for the rest of your life. Whether it’s Rads (Alexander Radulov) in Dallas, or Marky (Andrei Markov) in the KHL, or Subby in Nashville, you always hope the guys are going to do great.”

Radulov led the Stars in scoring with 21-31-52 totals heading into Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, while Markov has 5-26-31 totals in 53 games with Kazan Ak-Bars.

“We always hung out a lot,” Galchenyuk said about his relationship with Subban in Montreal. “When I first came here, he was one of the younger guys on the team and young guys usually always hang out. He was younger, wasn’t married, didn’t have kids. So we hung out.”

Galchenyuk admitted it was “kind of weird” to play against Subban for the first time last season, following the trade two summers ago that sent the defenceman to Nashville in exchange for Shea Weber.

“You’ve played with him for five years and then it was so emotional before the game,” Galchenyuk said about Subban’s return to the Bell Centre last season when he was honoured with a pre-game video. “But this game there’s going to be nothing like that. We already went through it, but it’s still going to be exciting. He’s an exciting player to watch and to play against.”

“He’s creative,” Galchenyuk added about Subban. “He has confidence in his abilities and he’s not afraid to make a mistake.”

The Canadiens beat the Predators 2-1 at the Bell Centre last season on a goal by Paul Byron with only nine seconds left in the third period. Subban picked up an assist on Ryan Ellis’s goal and logged 24:33 of ice time in his homecoming game.

“I look at Nashville as a great team,” Galchenyuk said. “They had a lot of success the last couple of seasons and went to the final (last season). It’s going to be an exciting game. Of course, Subby’s coming back and it’s going to be a great atmosphere. So we got to be prepared. We know they lost their last game, so they’re going to come out hard.”

Predators a tough test

Heading into Friday’s games, the Predators (32-12-9) had the fourth-best record in the NHL, while the Canadiens (22-26-6) ranked 27th.

The Predators, who are 9-1-4 in their last 14 games and have a 14-7-6 record on the road, were in first place in the Central Division and ranked ninth in the NHL in offence (scoring an average of 3.06 goals per game) and third in defence (allowing an average of 2.51 goals). The Canadiens ranked 27th in offence (2.59) and 24th in defence (3.09).

“They’re a great team,” Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said about the Predators after practice Friday. “They’re a very strong team and obviously they’re built down the middle and on the back end, and teams like that are very hard to match up against. So I’m sure there will be a lot of matching tomorrow. They have some really good defencemen over there, so we’ll see how it plays out in terms of matching. We haven’t discussed our game plan as much today as we will tomorrow morning. But I’m assuming there will be a lot of matching because they’re built through the middle and on the back end and I think that’s a big reason why they’ve had a lot of success.”

The Canadiens beat the Predators both times they met last season by 2-1 scores.

“Last year and this year are two completely different years and they’re built differently now,” Pacioretty said about the Predators, who beat the Canadiens 3-2 in a shootout earlier this season in Nashville. ” They’ve obviously added (Kyle) Turris and that gives them a little bit more of a threat down the middle. They’re very strong through the middle, so we know that obviously they’re going to do their best to start with the puck more often than not. You saw us working on that today. We’re going to try and limit that because it’s tough when you’re chasing the puck all night, especially a big team like that with defencemen who can skate and carry the puck.”

Price will start against Predators

Coach Claude Julien confirmed after practice Friday that Carey Price will start in goal against the Predators. Price has a 15-20-4 record with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.

Expect forward Daniel Carr to be a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game and the ninth time in the last 10 games, along with Jacob de La Rose, who will miss his fourth straight game. On defence, it looks like Jakub Jerabek will be a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game.

You can watch Julien’s full post-practice news conference Friday in Brossard on the HI/O Facebook page.

Rangers packing it in

The New York Rangers (25-24-5), who are five points ahead of the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference standings, have basically packed it in this season and are starting a rebuild, sending an official message to their fans from team president Glen Sather and general manager Jeff Gorton on Thursday letting them know that.

Pacioretty said after practice Friday that he hadn’t seen the Rangers letter yet, but had no problem with it when told what it said.

“Obviously, every market’s different,” Pacioretty said. “In some markets you have to hide things more so than others. But I don’t see a problem in what they did. I don’t know if other people saw a problem. … I think they’re a team that recognized they need change and it looks like they’re doing it. We’ll see how it plays out.

“For sure, everyone assumed that anyways, right?” Pacioretty added. “I’m sure in an organization when that’s the case, everyone in the room probably knows that that’s going to happen, whether it’s spoken about on the outside or not. I think teams have a pretty good pulse as to what’s going to happen, whether it be agents or people that they know in the organization talking to them. I’m sure the players on the Rangers had a good idea of that being the case and I’m sure they weren’t blind-sided by what was said, so I don’t see a problem with that.”

With trade rumours circulating ahead of the NHL’s Feb. 26 deadline — including some involving Pacioretty — the captain was asked about the atmosphere in the Canadiens’ locker room these days.

“In every room we go in in the rink they’ve got the (sports) news on and whether we like it or not that just comes with the territory with playing in Montreal,” Pacioretty said about the trade talk. “I think we’re at the point now where we just kind of focus on our game and let the rest play out. We can’t really control what’s going on.

“Obviously, I wish this wouldn’t be the case — all of us wish this wouldn’t be the case,” the captain added. “It seems like it could have been avoidable and in that sense it makes it frustrating. But you also just got to worry about that next game and what we can control. And that’s playing hard in that next game.”

What’s next?

The Canadiens have a morning skate scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Brossard before facing the Predators.

The Canadiens will be off Sunday and then practise at 10 a.m. Monday in Brossard before hitting the road for games Wednesday against the Avalanche in Colorado (9:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690), Thursday against the Coyotes in Arizona (9 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690) and next Saturday in Las Vegas against the expansion Golden Knights (7 p.m., SN360, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690).

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.